Los Blancos suffered their worst defeat in the EuroLeague in three years.
Monaco tore Real Madrid apart at both ends in surprise blowout
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Regular Season
Round 22 of 34
Regular Season
AS MonacoASM
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Real MadridRMB
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Real Madrid came into its game at AS Monaco with just two tight losses to its name, while Friday night’s hosts had been reeling. But Monaco showed why it has the talent to return to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four with a 98-74 blowout home win thanks to a magical Mike James and a tough defensive performance.
Los Blancos’ two losses prior to Round 22 were by 1 point in overtime at Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul in Round 11 and then by 5 points at FC Barcelona in El Clásico in Round 18.
Contrasting emotions at the final buzzer
Monaco was not impressed and handed Real just its eighth loss by 24 points or more in EuroLeague history, and its heaviest defeat in three years.
“We worked for that one. Shout out to the guys,” said Jordan Loyd, who led Monaco with 19 points, tying his season high. “We played amazing – on defense and offense. This is what we are supposed to do. I know we haven’t been consistent this year, but we are just going to look to build off a win like this.”
Monaco’s offense started on fire as Sasa Obradovic’s squad scored 33 points in the first quarter against the number one team in defensive index rating, which was fourth in points allowed at 77.8 points per game.
The hosts did not stop scoring there, however, as Monaco’s MVP candidate James was outstanding with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 12 assists and 5 steals. The team shot 65.7% on two-pointers and 43.3% from long range, in addition to making 25 assists. That would be impressive on any night, but it’s even more so against a Real defense which led the league in both defensive shooting percentages: 49.2% on twos and 31.5% on threes.
“It was a great team win over 40 minutes,” Coach Obradovic commented afterwards.
But it wasn’t just an offensive show for Monaco, as the team held Real to its third-fewest points this season. The Spanish side was restricted to 51.5% on two-pointers and 29.0% from long range with just 10 assists. Notably, Chus Mateo’s players committed an eye-popping 19 turnovers.
“They played much better than us, much tougher than us. They were very good from the beginning to the end. We were surprised by their defense. They played amazing defense and we were not able to solve it,” explained Coach Mateo, whose team came into the game leading the league in index rating (110.0), scoring (89.7) and assists (21.5), and was second in two-point shooting (58.6%) and sixth in shooting from long range (37.8%).
An important win for Monaco
Monaco had come into the game having lost three of the last four and was fighting to stay in the playoff picture.
When asked if it was special to beat Real Madrid, James said: “To be honest, no. We just need wins right now. We can’t look at who we are playing. We just have to look at the game, get ready and try to get wins. It’s so close in the standings; if we can get ourselves going on a little run, I think it will help us out a lot.”
James also said his team did not feel like an underdog in the game, especially since Monaco had a 6-3 record at home this season.
“We’re a EuroLeague team, we went to the Final Four last year and we have a home game. So I felt that we had everything to lose. We just had a lot of energy and came ready to play,” he added.
Loyd noted that Monaco will definitely look to take something from this win.
“When you make a statement like this against one of the best teams, if not the best team right now, it’s always positive. We know it’s just one game, though. We have to just keep building.”